Todd McLellan’s focus Wednesday was on helping a local charity raise funds to equip less-fortuante athletes at the Mark Spector Golf Classic in support of Sport Central, but his mind was on the upcoming season with the Edmonton Oilers.

The Oilers head coach is under the gun to turn around the ill fortunes of last season with essentially the same team.

Having committed to a number of hefty longterm contracts, the Oilers could only work around the fringes this off-season bringing in a backup goalie, a veteran winger, a depth defenceman and underachieving forward.

The biggest change was actually behind the bench, where McLellan got a whole new set of assistants to work with.

“Obviously, there isn’t a single individual that’s happy with the way last season went,” McLellan said after his round at the Quarry Golf Club. “It was 365 days ago almost to the day, we were standing here and talking about having the opportunity of moving the needle forward and dealing with success from the year prior, and we did a poor job of that last season.”

The Oilers went from a 103-point team and earning a playoff spot for the first time in a decade to a 78-point team last season and missing the postseason for the 11th time in 12 years.

McLellan kept his job, but assistants Jim Johnson and Ian Herbers were let go, while Jay Woodcroft was appointed head coach of the Oilers AHL affiliate in Bakersfield. It’s the first time since 2008 McLellan won’t have Woodcroft as his right-hand man.

“Not just Jay, Ian Herbers and Jim Johnson too, they’re tremendous people,” McLellan said. “The work ethic that group had was second to none, there’s no one that got cheated by the coaching staff when it comes to working and putting the time in. We probably over-coached at times, but change happens, the new staff will get in and find their place.

McLellan will be joined this season by former Calgary Flames head coach Glen Gulutzan, former Anaheim Ducks assistant Trent Yawney and former Swift Current Broncos boss Manny Viveiros.

The group gathered at the NHL Draft in June to get to know each other and then met in Kelowna to exchange ideas and define roles.

“We tried to fill holes and find personalities that we thought would blend together,” McLellan said. “I thought it was very interesting to hear the opinions of coaches who were rival coaches in Anaheim and Calgary, on what they thought our team did well or didn’t do well. We’ll work towards fixing things. As the players are trying to improve their game over the summer, so are the coaches.”

It will be up to McLellan and the coaching staff to get the most out of a roster which, with the exception of captain Connor McDavid, underachieved last season. Barring a major trade, the Oilers had little money to spend on free agents this off-season and brought in a handful of role players.

“The off-season is not necessarily about acquiring a whole bunch of different players, it’s about getting more out of what we have,” McLellan said. “We’ve been able to add a few pieces; a goaltender for competition, obviously, (Kyle) Brodziak and Tobias Rieder are big additions, (Kevin) Gravel on the back end. All of those players will come in and push our club, hopefully, in the right direction. But most importantly for me, it’s individuals. It’s the coaching staff and from your top player all the way down, finding a way to play more consistently and play more of a winning brand of hockey than we did last year.”

The Oilers begin the regular season with a game against the New Jersey Devils in Gothenburg, Sweden, on Oct. 6, before returning to North America and embarking on a three-game road trip, which starts on the East Coast. McLellan believes the extended trip will be a good bonding experience for his club.

“I think that’s an opportunity for us to get away and create some unity amongst the team,” McLellan said. “We’re going to need each other on that road trip. I’m still a big believer the best team-building you can do is winning a few games at the beginning of the season. When that happens and everybody is sacrificing, the team takes on its own characteristics, its own life and the confidence level goes up. For as much as we do team-wise away from the rink, which we will, it’s what we do on the ice that is really going to matter.”

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